Lahore High Court seeks details of PSL expenses

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday issued a notice to federal government on a petition, seeking details of expenditures incurred on Pakistan Super League (PSL).

Petitioner Javed Badar contended that he wrote a letter to former chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Najam Sethi to provide him details of PSL expenses, but his request was rejected.

He said access to information was one of the fundamental rights of citizens guaranteed by the Constitution. However, he said his right was infringed by declining to provide details PSL related expenses.

The petitioner expressed apprehensions that PSL record could be destroyed to cover up the alleged financial irregularities committed in tournament. He asked the court to issue directions to preserve PSL record and provide details to him.

Justice Shahid Jamil Khan heard the arguments and sought reply from the government and the PCB by Sept 27.

Earlier, Justice Sajjad Mehmood of the Lahore High Court (LHC) forwarded the case filed against former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi for concealing records of Pakistan Super League to chief justice LHC to probe into the matter.

He forwarded the case to LHC chief justice to probe into the matter, recommending the LHC top judge to form a bench to hear the case.

In the petition filed by a citizen, Javed Badar, it states that refusing to make PCB record public is violation of Article 19-A of the Constitution.

The plea also argues that Sethi misappropriated the funds to spend billions on media rights. The petitioner argues that complete records of PSL I and PSL II were not sent to the auditor general of Pakistan.